Pilgrims Group held its annual Security Officer Awards Ceremony for 2012 this month, recognising outstanding achievements and performances of security professionals within its business at both individual and team level.

The event took place at Hoebridge Golf Club in Surrey, combining a fun golf competition for all nominees prior to a sit down lunch and awards ceremony. The criteria on which Regional and National Officers were judged included pro-activeness, effort, reliability and added value, whilst criteria for the National Team awards included the assessment of qualities such as motivation and enthusiasm, good teamwork and communication.

“The process starts with Pilgrims regional operations managers and contract development managers selecting the nominees for a bronze, silver and gold officer and their best team. Regional management teams then meet to verify their nominees and vote on the national officer nominees and the national teams. The last stage is completed by the board of directors at Pilgrims HQ, where the final positions are decided. The process is thorough and assures all winners are truly deserving of this recognition for their part in the company’s continued high level of service provision and success.”

Pilgrims teams at one pharmaceutical client’s sites took home an impressive three of the fifteen awards at this year’s presentation. The team at Grimsby being crowned winners of the Gold Award for National Team of the Year.

The awards were met with delight from recipients, with one Gold Award winner stating: “I’d like to express my thanks to the Pilgrims team for organising a fantastic day. I am both proud and humbled by the award."

“All our guards do a truly fantastic job and I’d like to personally thank every one of them for their dedication and commitment,” praises Pilgrims COO, Dave Freear. “These awards recognise those that have gone yet another step above and beyond their normal duties, but we know the hard work that every single one of our team members puts in every day to ensure our clients get the best service.”

Cadwell Mashininga, Southern Region: Bronze
The attendees were saddened by the news that one of the winners passed away suddenly on 27th April 2013, ten days before the awards.
Cadwell Mashininga joined Pilgrims in September 2008 and worked at the company’s SunGard sites. Cadwell, a winner last year, was recognised again this year for his dedication with the Southern Region Bronze award.

He worked late into the evening on numerous occasions, coming in on several weekends to allow clients to access the site, often with very short notice. He was always relied upon to perform their duties fully. On top of this he worked very hard this past year making the site more organised, reviewing previous documentation and filing systems, removing items no longer required on site, helping both reception and security run more efficiently.

“It is with great sadness to say that Cadwell passed away, he will be sadly missed,” said Dave Freear. “We went ahead with the presentation and observed a minute's silence in memory of Cadwell. The award was then passed on to his widow, Lena.”

Pilgrims will be honouring Cadwell with the addition of a special award of achievement at future ceremonies. The Mashininga Award will be presented to the guard who has developed the most over the year.